TL8 Prejudices?

A thread of 2 messages, 18 February 1992 to 19 February 1992, in the order they were sent.

#3745 TL8 Prejudices?

metlay · 18 February 1992

Many thanks to Steve Higginbotham for correcting the mistaken identity
in his post. I could rebut his arguments in a number of areas, including
a post of thermal output vs. neutron flux figures that prove that any
fusion burst small enough not to do overwhelming neutron damage will
carry a negligible thermal impact (i.e. fusion becomes deadly as a
neutron source LONG before it can fry anything), but I'd prefer to
stand on philosophical arguments this time around....

Of COURSE I'm showing my TL8 prejudices. I live in a TL8 society and
Traveller is a TL8 roleplaying game. Any attempts to run it otherwise
catapult us into the black hole foam within a very short time. I find
it simpler to eject a device which is idiotic than to justify it if the
game doesn't rely on it and it offends me. I'd love to see your arguments
for why people should be running around with Light Sabres, too.

- --
Mike Metlay                                 [email removed]
Atomic City                      [address removed]

#3762 Neutron sources? (Re: (3745) TL8 Prejudices?)

[unnamed sender] · 19 February 1992 · reply to #3745

> From: [email removed] (metlay)
> Subject: (3745) TL8 Prejudices?
>
> Many thanks to Steve Higginbotham for correcting the mistaken identity
> in his post. I could rebut his arguments in a number of areas, including
> a post of thermal output vs. neutron flux figures that prove that any
> fusion burst small enough not to do overwhelming neutron damage will
> carry a negligible thermal impact (i.e. fusion becomes deadly as a
> neutron source LONG before it can fry anything), but I'd prefer to
> stand on philosophical arguments this time around....

I don't claim to be up on the current thinking of physicists, but why is
fusion such a huge a SOURCE of neutrons?  I thought that the basic type
of fusion we've been talking about was 2 D -> 1 He or 1 T + 1 H -> 1 He
or some similar reaction where a hydrogen isotope is converted into
helium.  Since there's a lot more hydrogen than deuterium or tritium, I'd
think that if anything the fusion process would need EXTRA neutrons.  Is
it really a neutron SINK (for lack of a better term)?

Jerry Williams